Macrokinetic determination of isopropanol removal using a downward flow biofilter

• Main Authors: Vissanu Meeyoo, Suppalak Tongta, Satida Krailas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Prince of Songkla University 2004-02-01
• Series: Songklanakarin Journal of Science and Technology (SJST)
• Subjects: biofilter; isopropanol removal; macrokinetic determination; waste gas treatment
• Online Access: http://www.sjst.psu.ac.th/journal/envi/06-macrokinetic.pdf

Biofiltration is a process for eliminating contaminants in air using microorganisms immobilized on a surface of solid support media. This technique has been used successfully to control a number of air contaminants such as odors, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), and Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) due to its economic attraction.Microorganisms obtained from local activated sludge (Huay-Kwang wastewater treatment plant (Bangkok, Thailand)) were selectively enriched and inoculated to the biofilter. The downward flow biofilterwas chosen, due to the ease of water compensation at the dry zone, to operate continuously for more than 3 months under various concentrations of isopropanol alcohol (IPA) input at a constant filtered air flow rate of 3 L/min. The maximum IPA elimination capacity of 276 g/m3-h was achieved at the IPA inlet of 342 g/m3-h with acetone production rate of 56 g/m3-h as the intermediate. It was also found that the acetone vapour was partly degraded by the acetone-utilizing microorganisms before leaving the bed. In order to understand the transport phenomena of biofiltration, it is necessary to consider the kinetic behavior of the bioreaction. Therefore, this paper introduces Wani’s method of macrokinetic determination based on the simple Monod kinetic (Wani, Lau and Branion, 1999). In this study, the maximum reaction rate per unit volume (Rm) and the Monod constant (KM) were found to be 0.12 g/m3 -s and 2.72 g/m3 respectively.